Heather Long Pitjara
Heather Long Pitjara was born in 1990 in the Utopia region of the Northern Territory. Utopia is an Indigenous community located approximately 300km northeast of Alice Springs. She is the daughter of highly acclaimed artist Jeannie Petyarre, from whom she learnt to paint her family’s totemic Dreaming story: The Bush Yam.
Learning the stories of Bush Yam Dreaming from her mother and aunts, Heather uses vibrant colour and beautiful flow to create her story of the Bush Yam.
Under the guidance of her mother and many other prominent related artists from her extended Pitjara family, Heather is now beginning to grow her own reputation and individual style. Whilst her mother’s art mainly focuses on the Bush Medicine Leaves, Heather’s main topic is “Bush Yam Dreaming”. In addition to painting, Heather can also be found as a teacher at her local community school of Utopia.
The Story Behind the Bush Leaves Paintings
The medicine bush leaves depicted are original to the Kurrajong tree, of which some 30 varieties are dating back 50 million years. They scale from small shrubs to massive trees some 30 meters in height. In the larger trees, their trunks store water, but the leaves have medicinal purposes.
The women of Utopia, the remote region far to the west of Alice Springs where Caroline’s people originated, gather the bush leaves, boil them, and then mash them with animal fats (kangaroo, emu, or gonna), making a medicinal poultice or paste which can last for many months. The paste is used to heal many afflictions such as bites, wounds, skin infections, rashes, and skin cancer. The bush leaves are boiled in hot water to make an infusion or healing tea. Other preparations were used as insect repellent or were thrown into the water to stun the fish.
The desirability of the artworks
Admirers of the medicine bush leaf paintings often observe their mesmerizing attraction. People are captivated by how the paintings appear in motion in front of their eyes like the leaves on the canvas are blowing in the wind. Many buyers and collectors of medicine bush leaf artworks in Australia, America, and Europe are medical specialists who buy the works to hang in their consulting rooms to show Aboriginal artwork with medical connotations.
